Barry off to Latvia (From Barry And District News)

Barry off to Latvia

Barry Town will meet the Latvian Champions Skonta Riga on July 17 in the capital city of Latvia, Riga.

It is another long trip for Barry who, in previous years, have travelled to the Ukraine, Latvia, Hungary and Azerbaijan.

Master tactician Kenny Brown will do his homework and is confident that Barry can progress to the second stage. If they manage that they will play Levski Sofia from Bulgaria, an even longer trip.

"We will find out everything we can about Skonta", said Kenny. "We will plan accordingly but we can win this tie. I am confident in my players."

Barry have experienced campaigners Andy York (18 European games) and Gary Lloyd (16) to help Kenny. (See next week's News for more on these two players).

The home leg will be on July 24 and should be a sell-out. It will almost certainly be an all-ticket affair.

Skonta have won their league for the last 11 seasons and several years ago beat Newtown 7-1 on aggregate.

Strangely enough, FK Shamkir, who Barry beat last season, defeated Skonta Riga 4-1 on aggregate two seasons ago.

Shamkir, who again won their league, could not enter the Champions League because other teams broke away to form a rival league.

Barry Town received a surprise phone call from an English FA official, who told them that Yeovil are touring Latvia in early July and will play Skonta Riga. Yeovil manager Gary Johnson was at one time a coach in Latvia, hence the invitation to tour. No doubt Mr Johnson will be getting a call from Mr Brown!

Barry's home game against Millwall has been put under the microscope with the main fear the possibility of the Lions' notorious fans clashing with Cardiff City supporters.

No Millwall fans will be allowed in to this all-ticket match and Barry Town are confident that everything will be ok.

Worries over Jamie Moralee's sore tendon and Jamie Jenkins' leg injury are on Kenny Brown's mind and he will get cover if necessary.